


the rain will be gone in the morning

by quantumoddity



Category: Nightrunner Series - Lynn Flewelling
Genre: Alec and Seregil as dads, Family Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Sex, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, storm watching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:02:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28819689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumoddity/pseuds/quantumoddity
Summary: In the middle of a Rhíminee winter, one house on Wheel Street is warm and safe
Relationships: Alec í Amasa/Seregil í Korit
Kudos: 7





	the rain will be gone in the morning

Alec wouldn’t like to think a lord’s life had made him soft. 

His friends teased him about it all the time, Seregil especially, whenever he’d bathe more than once a week or make a comment about the quality of wine in a tavern. Alec would always hotly ask him if he’d ever drank snow for weeks on end or eaten acorn paste when the blizzards up in the black iron mountains decided to rage a few extra days, if he’d ever spent months on end with cuts that never healed from setting snare after snare because the blisters and drawn fingernails were better than starving. And on the times, rarer now, when they went travelling anywhere wilder than Mycena, Alec would be proven right as his Northern upbringing came back to him while his husband would sulk like an indoor cat put outdoors. 

He would heatedly deny that living as a Rhíminee lord had made him soft. But he couldn’t lie to himself that night, as a particular bastard of a winter storm flung itself at the window, it was pretty nice to know he didn’t have to be out in it, shivering under canvas like a younger Alec would have been. Instead he could lie with his wonderfully warm, wonderfully naked talímenios in his arms, wrapped tightly in a down blanket and the scent of just blown out candles. 

It was far nicer to listen to a storm than be out in it. Not that thinking so would make him soft. 

He took his eyes away from the sliver of glass he could see beyond the half drawn curtains, from the hypnotic swirling patterns of drop after drop running down it like a hopelessly tangled knot of rivers and the lightning that would flash every so often, and looked to Seregil instead. He looked so beautiful, painted in the silvers and blues and blacks of the night, his dark hair fanning over the pillows, face scrunched up as he dozed. 

“Are you asleep, talí?” Alec murmured, one thumb gently moving a strand of hair out of his lover’s face. 

“I will be soon,” came the thick, muffled reply, the grey eyes not opening, “So if you want to make love, I suggest you make the foreplay quick.”

Alec chuckled and ducked down to catch Seregil’s lips with his own, giving him a long, teasing kiss before whispering against them, “Oh, come now, are we really going to waste this chance? A free night with no work and our daughter actually went to bed on time?”

That got Seregil’s eyes open, a smile tugging at his tired lips, “Illior does seem to be smiling on us tonight. It would be a shame to turn down that kind of gift.”

“Certainly would...” Alec shifted until he was crouched over his husband, his movements letting fingers of cold air in under their blankets, thunder booming outside but neither of them noticing or caring.

In the moonlight, Seregil’s eyes were opals and his smile was radiant, “Warm me up, my good Dalnan?” 

“Oh there will be nothing good or Dalnan about what I’m going to do to you…” Alec purred, nipping at his throat, feeling the rumble of his lover’s laughter. 

Alec was about to sink blissfully into Seregil’s soft skin, the musky scent of him, the sweet noises he made when Alec would kiss him right there…

But when the door to their bedchamber flew open and the little shape came scrambling in, he was very glad he still had enough of his mind about him to roll off of Seregil and put as much space between them as the bed would allow. 

“Papa! Daddy!” 

Adzri wasn’t quite tall enough to get up on the bed herself, Alec had to lean over and bundle her into his arms where she hung fast like a limpet, quaking against him. 

“Adzri, sweetling…” Alec blinked, “I thought you were asleep, what’s wrong?”

“Scary!” she mumbled fretfully, his shirt was wet where her face was pressed against it, “Don’t like it, papa, make it stop…”

“What is?” Seregil leaned over, after quickly snagging his long shirt from the floor and pulling it on, “Adzri, it’s alright…”

They stopped having to wonder when another roar of thunder sounded from outside and their daughter gave a little scream, gripping Alec’s arm tight enough to start hurting. The two of them exchanged a quick look. It was true, their daughter had only ever known the gentle rains of Bôkthersa where it fell in sweet smelling curtains and made flowers grow. She’d never seen a real storm like this, not one she would remember. 

“Oh, my little love,” Seregil murmured, leaning on Alec’s shoulder and reaching to stroke Adzri’s hair, “It’s only a storm, I know it’s loud but it’s okay, it’s just the weather.” 

She whimpered softly, “Loud…”

“It is loud,” Alec allowed, rocking her slowly, knowing the regular rhythm had comforted her since she was tiny, “But it isn’t angry or dangerous. It’s just weather, like rain and wind.”

“I...I was dreaming and I heard it and it scared me…”

Both of her fathers cooed sympathetically, keeping her safe and close in the circle of their arms. They hated to see their little girl upset and scared. 

“Come with me, sweetling,” Alec rose from the bed, still cradling her, she wasn’t yet too big to carry around. He dreaded the day she would be. 

He carried her to the window, moving back the curtains so they could watch the storm thrash and rage outside. At first, Adzri wouldn’t look but he wasn’t going to force her, just stroking her soft, willowy hair. 

“It’s really rather pretty, when you look at it from here where we’re safe and warm inside,” he murmured, “And it can even be rather fun when you’re out in it. One time, me and your daddy danced for hours in the rain when a storm broke during one of our parties…”

“It was rather romantic,” Seregil hummed, coming up behind him and wrapping his arms around them, his arms mimicking Alec’s as he held their daughter. 

Alec smiled at him before bending to kiss the top of Adzri’s head again, “And there’s puddles to jump in and mud to play in and all kinds of fun things.” 

She sniffled, one large blue eye peering out to look at the window, “I like puddles…like getting muddy.”

“Oh we know, sweetling,” Seregil snorted. 

“So storms aren’t scary. Rain makes beautiful flowers grow and the thunder is so far up in the sky, it couldn’t ever hurt you. Lightning only likes tall metal structures so even that isn’t dangerous.”

Adzri relaxed in his arms, now watching the raindrops too, her little face soft with wonder, “Oh. Well...I wouldn’t have been scared if I knew that.”

Alec swallowed a laugh, she really was so much like Seregil sometimes. 

“Of course, sweetling. Would you like to stay in here with us tonight and we can watch the storm together?”

Adzri’s face flooded with relief and she nodded eagerly, the last of her fear chased away and her eyes bright again. She’d often thought the idea of having her own room was silly when there was more than enough space for her in her daddies’ bed. Immediately she wriggled out of Alec’s arms and onto the bed, claiming the very middle so she could have one of them on either side, giggling excitedly as she snuggled down in the ghost of their warmth. 

“So much for Illior’s luck,” Seregil whispered, though he could see the curve of his smile in the dark. 

“Well,” Alec returned, leaning in and kissing his cheek, “We are lucky to have her.” 

The bed did seem so much warmer with Adzri between them, the sound of her muffled giggles as she pulled the blankets right up to her eyes. Seregil began to hum a lullaby to her, helping to soothe her into sleep which rose up to claim her faster than she probably imagined, her tiredness forgotten in her excitement. 

Once she was snoring softly again, Alec and Seregil shared a kiss over the top of her head, fingers entwined, before accepting rest would be the only thing they were getting tonight. Alec waited a little longer, until Seregil had drifted off, listening to the rain driving on the glass outside and the increasingly softening rumble of the thunder. 

Perhaps he was getting a little soft. But Alec didn’t think he minded so much. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please consider leaving a comment! It really means a lot!


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